David Beckham jokes about Sir Alex Ferguson boot-kicking incident while at Manchester United
Retired superstar quipped it was only after the row that he realised how good a player his boss was
DAVID BECKHAM has opened up about the infamous boot-kicking incident of 2003.
Fergie's notorious temper spilled over in the dressing room after a defeat to Arsenal - but Beckham sees the funny side.
He said: "We had a couple of wobbles in the 13 years.
"On Champions League nights the boss would always come out onto the pitch.
"He would be taking penalties and free-kicks and telling all of the players how great he was when he played.
"The time when I really got to find out how great he was was the game against Arsenal.
"I'd made a couple of mistakes during the game and he came into the changing room and we had a couple of words.
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"He started to walk over to me and he kicked a pile of clothes on the floor. Out came this boot and it hit me and then I realised how accurate he actually was!"
In his 2013 autobiography, Ferguson said: “In his final season with us, we were aware that David's work rate was dropping and we had heard rumours of a flirtation between Real Madrid and David's camp.
“The main issue was that his application level had dropped from its traditionally stratospheric level.
"He was around 12 feet from me. Between us on the floor lay a row of boots.
"David swore. I moved towards him, and as I approached I kicked a boot.
“It hit him right above the eye. Of course he rose to have a go at me and the players stopped him.”